Well, I was hardly frolicking, though the warmer temperatures today had me reaching for my lighter trench as I headed outside, into the very welcome sunshine. Whilst it was still layer-worthy weather, I was glad to stuff my gloves into my coat pockets and wander about; taking photos comfortably – my fingers devoid of any painful numbing sensations so persistent in the cooler temps.

If you like architecture and are drawn to that well-worn, distressed look reminiscent of an industrial mid-19th Century Manhattan, then one of the best strolls to take is along the West Side of downtown NYC: starting at the Meatpacking District, and making your way through a residential West Village, along the outskirts of SoHo, and into the narrow streets of lovely Tribeca.

To be honest, at the halfway point of the walk (the SoHo outskirts) you will enter into a considerably commercial area. You’ll pass by tall storage warehouses that cast shadows below; the glassy rectangular prism of a building that is Trump Soho; large car lots, so full that their parked cars overflow onto the adjoining pavement; a few huge advertising agencies (Saatchi); and, enough Equinox gyms that could seemingly maintain the fitness levels of Manhattan’s Lower Half.

That said, this juncture is an opportune time to pop into D’Agostino supermarket or a deli to grab a beverage and a pack of trail mix ~ for ongoing sustenance.

Below is a glimpse of today; the last day of January. I hope this walk may inspire you to discover and/or re-discover Manhattan’s downtown; its formerly industrial ‘hoods.

As an aside, I want to thank robertoalborghetti and barbaraelka, and Photobella’s Project 365, who have nominated me for the Sunshine and Versatile Blogger Awards respectively. I appreciate it very much and as a follower of each of your blogs, I look forward to reading your posts. I hope to share the sunshine and passion for New York through this tour.

~A WEST SIDE STORY~

START: Meatpacking District

Head to 14th Street and Ninth Avenue. The meatpacking district covers about 20 square blocks, and is also bounded by the High Line and Horatio Street.

Cobblestones on Gansevoort St

The Gansevoort Hotel, to the left, Sephora - in front

Still a cool and trendy place to go during the week (preferably), the neighbourhood has retained its character from decades past. In the 1840’s it served as a market district: initially for produce, and later – for meat. Its cobblestoned streets, original store signage, and glimpses of the 1930’s elevated railroad – now the High Line park – are all reminiscent of the industrial era.

Cobblestones and Patios. Then, this area was known as Gansevoort Market. In 1884, New York named two acres of land after General Peter Gansevoort, a Revolutionary War hero.

Fact: In 1900, 250 slaughterhouses and packing plants filled the district; by the 1930s, those houses produced the nation’s third-largest volume of dressed meats. The city, eager to retain the immediate supply of fresh meat and jobs, subsidized the industry throughout the early 20th century. *

Head in the sand...

TO DO: Visit the High Line; go boutique shopping; have a coffee and pastry at french-inspired bistro Pastis; admire the intermittent street art. The WhitneyMuseum is slated to open here in 2015.

TO EAT: Have a cocktail and stay for dinner at Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s, Spice Market – inspired by the street food the chef enjoyed while traveling in Southeast Asia.

TO STAY:The Gansevoort Hotel, for its rooftop pool and bar (in the heart of the meatpacking district on 9th Avenue), or The Standard on the High Line, for its Hudson River views. The new Dream Downtown is scheduled to open on 16th Street and 9th Avenue, in Spring.

Window Shopping

Spice Market, with The Standard Hotel in the background

INTERMISSION: West Village and SoHo’s Outskirts

Free Press

Somewhere in the West Village

On the corner of Charles and Greenwich Streets

Trump Soho

Bordering Canal Street

Subways, fire stations and Tribeca

END: TRIBECA

TRiangle BElow CAnal Street is what Tribeca stands for. Bounded on the north by Canal Street, south by Vesey Street, east by Broadway and west by the Hudson River, it hardly forms a triangle – more so, a trapezium.

Here’s the story: in the 1970’s, a tiny triangular area bounded by Canal, Lispenard and Church Streets was zoned to allow for live/work status; this movement was initiated by its activist artist residents, who called themselves the Tribeca Block Association.

A reporter covering the zoning story for the New York Times came across the block association’s submission to City Planning, and mistakenly assumed that the name Tribeca referred to the entire neighborhood, not just one block.**

Thus, Tribeca as a ‘hood was born.

Tribeca streetscapes

Water towers and cobblestones - looking towards Varick Street

Tribeca was one of the city’s first residential neighborhoods, settled during the late 18th Century. By the mid 19th Century, the area was transformed into a commercial center – mainly for textile production – and it was then that a large numbers of store and loft buildings were constructed along Broadway.

A textile past: "Look for The Clothespin Tack"

The area along the Hudson River became a bustling produce, dairy and meat market known as Washington Market. Industry declined in the 1960’s and so in the 70’s, artists converged on the area. From the 1980’s until today, large scale conversion has transformed this cute neighbourhood into what is one of the priciest in Manhattan (based on median closing price)***.

Don’t be intimidated by its expensive price tags: this is one of the loveliest neighbourhoods to stroll. Its cobblestone streets and converted warehouses are restored and well maintained, and the neighbourhood is a stone’s throw away from the River Promenade. Trailing the Hudson River from Battery Park and past Chelsea Piers, it makes New Jersey look really good.

TO DO:Tribeca Film Festival – co-founded by Robert DeNiro in 2002 to help assist in Lower Manhattan’s recovery after 9/11. DeNiro has been instrumental in building up Tribeca since then.

TO EAT:Bubby’s for brunch; Nobu for dinner (co-owned by Robert DeNiro). For thrills: Tribeca Grill – also co-owned by Robert DeNiro, it counts Bill Murray, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Sean Penn, Ed Harris, Lou Diamond Philips, Russell Simmons, Christopher Walken and Harvey & Bob Weinstein of the Weinstein Company amongst its investors.

TO STAY:Tribeca Grand Hotel – which actually stands on a triangular block – has a cool lobby bar for pre-dinner drinks. The James Hotel, located just above Canal Street, is on the cusp of Soho and Tribeca.

Tribeca Grand Hotel's clock

The James Hotel

OPTION: Outskirts of Chinatown/City Hall/enroute to Brooklyn Bridge

Heading home to Brooklyn, my subway stop is by City Hall. You may also choose to continue on this way from Tribeca, as the route leads to the Brooklyn Bridge. Here, you’ll also be able to take in some vistas of a courted Manhattan, on its East side.

US Courthouse, to the left; City Hall - ahead

U.S Court House

Flanked - New York by Frank Gehry: at 870 feet tall, it is the tallest residential tower in the Western Hemisphere

The Golden Globes kick off awards season. Watching them from New York, I will inevitably wax nostalgic about Los Angeles, my former hometown, as the glorious sunshine lights up the movie stars on the red carpet.

I wanted to honour the Golden Globes from New York, so by a (large) stretch of the imagination, I came up with a topic for this post: The Bronze Statuettes of the 14th Street– 8th Avenue Subway. A few weeks back, I spotted these little figurines and have wanted to write about them ever since. In light of the Golden Globes award show, I now have the perfect excuse.

Rolling dice and playing cards

Pumped!

Waiting, with the rest of us

A resident rat

If you’re not familiar with these squat bronze sculptures, they are part of Tom Otterness’ “Life Underground” series commissioned by the Metropolitan Transit Authority and Arts for Transit. They dot the 14th Street – 8th Avenue subway — around the main concourse and its A, C, E and L stops. You’ll come across a cartoon-like top-hatted figurine while descending the stairway to the platform below, only to find yourself greeted by a large caricature fashioned into a phone box..

Crocodile’s dinner

“Life Underground” took ten years to create, and includes over 100 cast bronze works. They are so interesting to look at while waiting for the subway.

Caught sneaking under

Money Bags

Enjoy these Teletubby-like works. I’m off to have a glass of wine and watch the Golden Globes!

Trunking Around

Tom Otterness’ public works feature in many parts of New York and North America; with a few works on view in South Korea, the Netherlands and Germany. More info: Tom Otterness >> Public Art.

Whoever invented the reservoir must have done it with him alone in mind. It was without flaw, a perfect lake set in the most unexpected of locations.*

There is only one place in New York where you can take in beautiful skyline views at ground level, and that’s in Central Park, at the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir.

At the Reservoir on its West side, looking at Manhattan’s Midtown

You can access the Reservoir from the park’s entrances at 86th or 96th streets, from either the Central Park West or Fifth Avenue sides, all within easy reach of the subway. Strolling along the park’s meandering walkways, it doesn’t take long to reach the expansive body of water, circled by a running track and a black, four-foot-high, steel fence. This is Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir.

A West Side entrance

Bridge close by Central Park West’s 96th Street Entrance

Looking towards the southern point of midtown, and the Chrysler is there… somewhere…

From the South, looking West at The Eldorado Apartments

You can see midtown and upper Manhattan from the western, southern and eastern edges of the reservoir. Prominent buildings look miniature from across the lake (the Guggenheim – so tiny!) and on a good day, you can see the sun sets behind a silhouetted skyline. I don’t venture to Central Park often enough, but when I do, seeing these New York City views makes it really worthwhile.

Gorgeous (model of a) Guggenheim on the East side

Silhouetted Skyline

Twilight, ducks and The Guggenheim (far right)

Grasses and sunset

I’ve been living in New York, on and off, for about six years and only recently learned that in 1994, the reservoir was dedicated to Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis; it was “renamed for the beloved first lady who lived nearby and often enjoyed a run along the 1 1/2-mile jogging track that circles the water.”[2] Initially, this massive pool of water was named the Central Park Reservoir, built in 1862.

Spanning 106 acres and covering approximately an eighth of the Park, the Reservoir was built to receive water from the Croton Aqueduct and distribute it around Manhattan.

The reservoir is 40 feet deep and holds a billion gallons of water. It was built in the 1860s as a temporary water supply for New York City, while the Croton Water system was shut down for repairs two weeks each year. At the time, it was unthinkable that a billion gallons of water would last less than two weeks. Today, some speculate that the City would go through that supply in just four hours. The reservoir was decommissioned in 1993, deemed obsolete because of the Third Water Tunnel.[3]

The Reservoir still distributes water to other Central Park locations, such as the Pool, the Loch, and the Harlem Meer, and also serves as a meditative spot.

Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani today cut the ribbon to open the renovated 1.58-mile running track around Central Park‘s Reservoir. The renovations, made possible by a $500,000 gift from the Goldie-Anna Charitable Trust, replaced the track’s gravel and timber lining, and completely overhauled its drainage system. The renovations, the first since the Track initially opened in 1982, will be maintained with a $2 million grant from the Uris Brothers Foundation.[4]

In April 2010, the jogging track was dedicated to a man named Alberto Arroyo. Name Mayor of Central Park by the path’s regular patrons, Arroyo claimed to be the first person to jog around the reservoir, in 1937.

Alberto Arroyo was there every day, and when he retired he was often there the entire day, waving and saying hello to everyone. When he couldn’t run, he walked. Then he used a cane, then a walker, and finally, after a stroke, a wheelchair. Arroyo died last month <March 2010> at 94.[5]

This pathway is also extremely popular with walkers, tourists, photographers, and the neighbourhood’s residents, where the lake makes up a large part of their glorious backyard. Signage requests that no strollers, bikes or dogs be taken on the track. Rightly so as the pathway is way to narrow to cater to everyone (and their messes)!

Photographers and walkers

There is also the track’s protocol of going with the flow; if going against traffic (i.e., clockwise) you may be faced with dozens of shocked faces and disgruntled looks. This park etiquette however, seems to work well. One just needs to be street smart if constantly stopping and starting as the path attracts some pretty swift runners. Apparently, in spring, cherry blossoms bloom along the pathway too. Can you imagine how beautiful that would look?

An eastern perspective, and ducks

The Reservoir is also a lovely pit-stop during a weekend of museum hopping, after visits to The Met and/or The Guggenheim on the East Side, or the American Museum of Natural History, located at 81st Street and Central Park West .

In any kind of weather, the Reservoir’s space seduces. It’s such a calm place for the contemplative soul; an oasis for the stressed-out New Yorker; a perfect viewing spot for the traveler; and, a romantic setting for a date. By day, Manhattan is characterised by its skyscraper skyline; by night, the beautiful lampposts light up the area and transport you to Paris.

It inspired Depeche Mode’s video and album art (respectively, Policy of Truth and World in My Eyes); appeared in the James Bond film, Live and Let Die; and more recently, in July 2011, set the stage for an aerialist who performed on it (illegally). I’m talking about the Williamsburg bridge, New York’s only suspension bridge that has been standing for over 100 years.

The Williamsburg Bridge

I recently discovered the beauty (and benefit) of the bridge after walking across it, from Williamsburg to the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Why hadn’t I discovered the bridge’s walkway before? I thought it was only used by cyclists, who I’d regularly see through the window of the M or J subway, which I traveled on to and from work. I guess I must have been looking at the bike lane, which is separate to the walk lane on the other side of the bridge.

Walkway – from Williamsburg side

On a beautiful day, walking across the Bridge beats taking the subway. The Manhattan views are stunning – to one side you can see the Manhattan skyline dominated by the Empire State Building; to the other, the Manhattan Bridge with the Brooklyn Bridge behind it. Returning to Brooklyn, I see a more industrial view (note the now defunct Domino Sugar factory to your left) and the walkway drops you off at the doorstep of Peter Luger’s Steakhouse. Seeing the sunset from the bridge is a must.

Skyline Views

I have posted on Street Art in the past, and the Williamsburg Bridge is a great canvas for it. Street art covers the bridge’s walkways, mostly in the form of stencil art. I’ve walked over the bridge a number of times now, and every time I have seen new art. Unfortunately, graffiti has defaced many of the bridge’s plaques. Borderline art? Perhaps.

Graffiti

In Williamsburg, the Bridge is a backdrop to the neighbourhood’s streetscape. In the words of Depeche Mode, “Let me show you the world in my eyes…”

Because I have posted on street art in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, a fellow blogger, Victor Ho, drew my attention to a graffiti project in Long Island City (LIC), Queens called 5Pointz Aerosol Art Center, Inc. From Williamsburg, it’s a quick drive over the Pulaski Bridge to LIC.

in some ways, LIC is similar to Williamsburg. Both neighbourhoods are both undergoing gentrification, enjoy view of Manhattan and the East River, are easily accessible by subway or ferry, and are situated close to major bridges — the Queensboro Bridge connects LIC to Manhattan’s Upper East Side. the area has attracted a young professional crowd though the feeling of community doesn’t permeate as much as it does in Williamsburg.

Queensboro Bridge linking LIC to Manhattan

Dubbed ‘5Pointz’, this empty, 20,000-square-foot, five-story factory building is covered from top to bottom in graffiti. The name, 5Pointz, represents the five boroughs of New York, although the building is showcase global graffiti works by artists from Australia, Spain, Canada, Brazil, and France as well. Located under the rambling elevated 7-subway line, this one block long industrial complex continues until the Davis Street’s dead end. Today, the enclave was far from dead, which was filled with film crew, photographers, iphone-toting fans and trucks.

7 Subway Line

5Pointz Building…

5Pointz Building… continues along Davis Street

5Pointz Building… full frontal

Art continues down the complex on Davis Street

Unfortunately, 5 Pointz faces an undetermined fate. The graffiti art curator, Jonathan Cohen, plans to convert the building into a “graffiti museum”, as well as “a school for aspiring aerosol artists, complete with a formalized curriculum that imparts lessons in teamwork, art history, and entrepreneurship in addition to technique”, yet there are rumours that the building will be knocked down to make room for condos. The building’s owner, John Wolcoff, has expressed interest in building two 30-story high rises to cash in on renters escaping expensive Manhattan, and has promised a rear wall accessible to graffiti artists in lieu of what may be torn down. Hardly compensation.

An homage to Dali

Marie Flageul, an event planner who is part of the 5Pointz team, recently stated on NYTimes.com, “What the landlord doesn’t understand is that 5Pointz is a brand and an icon, and if he knocks it down it will be missed. 5Pointz is the United Nations of graffiti.”

Ironically, LIC is located directly opposite the United Nations building in Manhattan.

View of the United Nations (left), as seen from LIC’s Water’s Edge dock

If you’re a graffiti artist and are interested in staking a piece of real estate within this “graffiti Mecca”, perhaps the only legal place left to tag in New York, you’ll need to obtain permission from 5Pointz. According to the website:

The most coveted locations are given to accomplished graffiti artists who create high-quality, conceptual work that displays great artistic detail, while the less visible areas are preserved for new and aspiring aerosol artists.

The better the mural, the longer it stays up. Pieces and productions are typically left on display for anywhere from one day to two years, depending on the quality and effort of the work, as well as the pedestrian traffic level of its wall placement. Long-lasting, prominently displayed productions require a rough draft and demonstrate creative vision, a high-level of craft, and originality.